Smuggler's Run at a glance may seem like an original idea. You work as
a part of an underground smuggling ring, and a fairly elaborate one at
that. You pick up packages, take them to their locations, and move one
to the next job. Oh, and you get paid, let's not forget that (we don't
do things for free around here). After the first couple of stages
(which was pretty fun getting into), something donned on me. I felt
like I've done this kind of thing before. Not in real life (but if I
could, CA-CHING!), but in another game. The idea of picking up
something and dropping it off. What does this remind you of? CRAZY
TAXI! Much like how you would come up to a person and drop them off to
their desired location, WITH a time limit; Smuggler's Run is pretty
much that same gameplay, except a little less pickups, a lot more law
enforcement, and you lose money for some rather wreckless driving (like
flipping a bitch on a hill). While it's fine to be inspired by an
exisitng game design, this seems way too familiar, and I kind of wonder
if anyone else who has played this series has picked up on that.

The story, guided through live-action cutscenes (with some fairly good
acting) is about you being the new recruit of an underground smuggling
company. Planes drop of the supplies, or someone asks you to pick it
up, and you take it to it's desired location. But things aren't all
that easy, as the national government is on your ass all the time. And
unlike some games that have pursuits that are sometimes easy to get out
of, these people will hunt you down, and flip your vehicle without
thinking about it. As the story further unfolds, suspicious things
arise, and if I told you, that would spoil the game, now wouldn't it?

As I mentioned before, the gameplay is kind of similar to Sega's Crazy
Taxi. While not as offbeat and comical (or even addictive) as CT,
Smuggler's Run does manage to be it's own being, in a way. It's
shadier, it's harder, and you will yell at every stupid thing the game
does. Let's start with it's best aspects, though. The map (stage)
layout is HUGE. While it does get used more than once, the world is
varied, and has a variable terrain. The game does have a high sense of
speed, as well as a smooth framerate, which really helps. You won't be
further slown down by choopy framerate, or low speed. Some missions
take place at night and the whole screen is in night vision, which is
cool, but a lot tougher to play. Aside from the mission mode, there are
other modes as well, such as chackpoint racing, and can also be played
with more than 1 player. In fact, I think the GCN version of the series
is a lot more multiplayer friendly than the PS2 releases. Now come the
gripes. The AI is brutal. While some like to be challenged, I never
thought I would be bullied by the computer in a videogame. Opponents
slam into you without remorse, and also seem to predict what your next
move is (especially head-on). The missions could have been more varied
than what was there. Basically you take packages (or bombs in some
cases) to people, keep rivals from stealing your goods, or chase after
someone to spy on them or to hunt them dowwn and imobilize them. And
there's only about 36 or so missions, and some can only take a couple
of minutes to complete. But there are the mini games, and the racing
mode is a nice addition.

The graphics are pretty average. I admire the huge draw distance and
the vegetation it displays, and keeping it at a near-solid 60 fps, but
the textures are a tad plain, and the architecture is not that
inspiring. Also, the vehicles could have used a little more zazz. Your
paint job is plain old brown, and the designs are average. I guess
brown makes sense for camoflauge, but I've seen better off road
vehicles in games such as 4 Wheel Thunder. Also, what's up with the
Vigilante 8-like texture pop-up? If you've ever played V8, you may have
noticed that the texture pops up in a weird, tile-like way. It happens
here, but the distance is a bit further.

The sound is really not much to complain about, except for one thing.
The guy that you work for (I forgot his name) never really shuts up.
How is it possible that he can see everything that's going on, like
he's a part of a pit crew? And why is everything a lame insult? Shut
him up! The music, is good, not great. It's techno, which for a game
like this, is a bit weird. But in kind of works, and almost reminds me
of the music of V-Rally 2.

A fairly tight design with a highly brutal AI and deja vu gameplay is
pretty much the order of the day in SR:WZ. It's basically a cleaned up
version of the PS2 stages, with some extra modes and multiplayer
elements thrown in. I would have like to have know WHAT I was
smuggling, instead of it just being a "package", and I'm not sure how
well this story really holds if it's a mix of the two PS2 game's
levels. But it's a fairly decent game. Not very long, but comes off
entertaining most of the time. It's the best Rockstar game I've played
so far, and that kind of says a lot. Worth a rental, buy if it's cheap.

.

.

Published
By :ROCKSTAR

Developed
By: ANGEL
STUDIOS

Year Published :
2002

Players :
1-4

ESRB Rating:
TEEN

OVERALL
SCORE8.0

VISUALS

8.4

AUDIO

8.0

GAMEPLAY

8.0

REPLAY
VALUE

7.0

INNOVATION

7.5

The game is suprsingly short, but it's decent fun while it lasts,
despite some frustration.

Midnight
Club 2

Spy Hunter 2

Simpsons Road Rage

Crazy
Taxi

Midnight Club 3 DUB Edition

2003-2006 SPM
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